


The Wrong Door

by shxnju



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Episode: s01e19 Dreamscaperers, OKAY BUT, so what if dipper found a door he wasn't supposed to, they were all walking around inside stan's head during that episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 19:54:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11043195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shxnju/pseuds/shxnju
Summary: Dipper and Mabel, along with Soos (and those guys from her movie, he supposed) were racing Bill, trying to find the door before he did.They couldn't let that demon get to the code.But instead of finding the memory with the safe code, Dipper found a different memory from the past.A memory of his grunkle, a stranger, and a portal.





	The Wrong Door

Frustration clear on his face as he stomped down the wooden floor, Dipper started opening random doors, mumbling ‘no’ as he closed each one.

He really didn’t want to be doing this, and it was obvious.

Why should he help Stan – why should he search through all of these memories, of Stan probably just bossing him about or scamming someone – after all he has to deal with?

Right, right. To save to shack.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours of walking and opening memory doors, he found himself lost.

Or at least, far away from the others.

But that was fine, he guessed.

Maybe some peace and quiet will do him some good.

He opened a door to hear Stan’s annoying voice drone on and, with a cringe, slammed it shut.

Maybe not.

Letting out what sounded like a mix of a groan and a sigh, he stopped beside an especially broken door, and opened it (doing just that took quite a bit of effort, as the door was stuck).

To his surprise, it wasn’t Stan doing something gross.

In fact- it wasn’t even the current Stan they knew.

He looked- young (but tired). And was that a mullet?

He didn’t look like he had been taking care of himself for a while – probably not doing so well in the scamming business, at this point.

“- what _I’ve_ been through. I’ve been to prison in three different countries, I once had to chew my way through the trunk of a car! You think _you’ve_ got problems? _I’ve got a mullet_ , Stanford!”

Wait-

_Stanford?_

Maybe this was – no, as much as he tried to quickly rationalize Stan using his own name for someone that looked _remarkably_ like him – his mind went immediately to suspicion.

Was he using someone’s name?

And who was that guy?

They looked alike, way too much for it to be coincidence, so… brothers, maybe?

And- he caught glimpses, so maybe he was wrong, but did that guy have _six_ fingers?

What was-

This was weird.

Everything about it – way too weird for grunkle Stan.

Dipper blinked, now drawn to this memory and definitely not stepping away anytime soon.

He had to see this through to the end.

“Meanwhile, where have you been?” Stan continued, voice just as angry, almost seeming betrayed? “Living it up in your fancy house in the woods! Selfishly hording your college money, because _you only care about yourself_!”

Fancy house in the woods? Maybe it was just wishful thinking, but- was he talking about the shack?

“I’m selfish?” The other person’s – Stanford – expression also twisted to anger as he stared at him, eyebrows furrowing. “ _I’m_ selfish, Stanley?” _Stanley?_ “How can you say that after costing me my _dream school_?!”

Taking a step back, Stanford continued to glare at Stan – Stanley? (his grunkle had a lot of questions to answer) .  “I’m giving you a chance to do the first worthwhile thing in your life, and you won’t even listen!”

“Well listen to this,” Stan replied, holding up the _journal. What?! But how did he- when did- why does-_

Dipper took in a breath, mainly to calm himself down. He had forgotten about looking for the safe code completely.

“You want me to get rid of this book?” _No._ “Fine, I’ll get rid of it right now!” He took out a lighter. _No!_

“No! You don’t understand,” Stanford yelled, lunging forward, grabbing the journal and trying to yank it of his brother’s – _maybe???_ – hands.

“You said you wanted me to have it, so I’ll do what I want with it!” Stan pulled the journal, holding it above the lighter.

“My _research_!”

Another gasp, making Dipper choke on the air around him, and he almost fell.

Was he-

Nononono, it _couldn’t_ be-

But that would-

The six fingers, they match the journal- and-

_But that would mean-_

The journal hit the ground, Stanford soon following, after Stan kicked him down.

Running past him, he snatched up the journal and ran towards another section of – wherever they were.

“Stanley, give it back!” Stanford yelled, slamming into him.

The door was pushed open and they fell in, Stan hitting buttons and accidentally switching them on in the fall.

“You want it back, you’re going to have to try harder than that!” And with that, his grunkle shoved him down onto the floor.

Sounds of _something_ turning on could be heard distantly.

It didn’t look like they could hear it, but it worried Dipper.

“You left me behind, you jerk!” Stan said, as the two fought over the journal, trying to pull it away from the other. “It was supposed to be us forever, you ruined my life!”

_Maybe the constant scamming ruined it_ , Dipper thought bitterly to himself.

“You ruined your own life!” Stanford shouted, kicking his stomach and knocking him back into the metal wall of the machine, where Stan screamed, and-

Wait.

That looked a lot like-

Dipper squinting, paying extra attention to the marking on the wall as Stan fell away from it.

Was that Stan’s ta-

He fell to the ground, allowing him a quick glimpse at his shoulder.

It was.

“Stanley!” Stanford – who he was going to assume was definitely his brother, at this point ( _and also the author_ ) – jumped to his feet, standing beside him nervously. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Are you alri-“

One punch from Dipper’s grunkle, and he went flying out of the room, tripping near a lever, and turning it on.

Speaking of Dipper – his eyes were very wide at this point, practically clutching onto the end of the doorframe as he watched the memory happen, struggling not to fall in just to get a better look.

_Was this really one of **grunkle Stan’s** memories?_

He always thought he’d be – scamming people during football matches, or stealing cars, or shoplifting, all of his life-

Not fighting over the _journal_ with the _author_ , who is apparently his _brother_.

He thought he didn’t even _know_ about the mysteries of Gravity Falls!

Dipper thought he was going to be sick.

He watched as his grunkle, clutching his now injured shoulder, started walking towards Stanford.

There was a portal behind him – a _portal_!

And it was _active_ , _working_!

_Who knows where that thing could lead!_

“Some brother you turned out to be,” Stan said, confirming his earlier thoughts. “You care more about your dumb mysteries than you do then your family, well then you can have them!”

He shoved the journal at his chest, and he – along with Dipper – watched as he was dragged up into the air, now floating.

“Woah, woah- hey, what’s- hey, hey, Stanford!”

Speaking of Stanford – he was now floating even higher, towards the portal.

Despite knowing this was a memory, something that had already happened, it had Dipper on the edge of his seat, genuinely concerned for what would happen next.

“Stanley!” The author screamed, the edges of his jacket touching the swirling mess inside of the portal. “Stanley, help me!”

“Oh no, what do I do?!”

“Stanley! Stanley!” More of his jacket entered the portal and, soon, so would he. “Do something! _Stanle_ -”

He threw the journal, which landed in his brother’s hands.

The door slammed shut.

And Dipper stood there, eyes wide in a mix of so many emotions (some he didn’t even know the name of).

The truth hit him like a brick.

**_Stan knew about the mysteries. Stan knew the author. The author was Stan’s brother. The author fell into the portal. Stan has the first journal._ **


End file.
